The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sunday November 12, 2000 Oakville Beaver Weekend 15 Municipal election balloting going electronic on Monday For the first time, the Town of Oakville Clerk's Department will be using optical scan auto mated vote technology (vote tab ulators) in the Nov. 13th munici pal election. While vote tabulators are new to Oakville, they have been used in elections at every level of gov ernment across Canada and the United States. In many jurisdic tions, the technology has proven to make the counting of ballots more accurate and faster. While "optical scan automat ed vote technology" may be cumbersome to say, it is actually very easy to use. Vote tabulators operate like lottery machines that are able to read penciled mark ings on tickets. Electors are instructed to mark their ballot by completing the arrow to the right of the name of the candidate of their choice with the pen provid ed. They then return their ballot in a secrecy envelope to the Deputy Returning Officer responsible for operating the vote tabulators. The Deputy Returning Officer then inserts the elector's marked ballot into the tabulator, and the tabulator will automati cally count the vote accordingly. The elector will be asked to remain in the voting place until the vote tabulator has successful ly accepted their ballot. If, for some reason, there is a technical problem associated with the vote tabulator (such as a power fail ure), the ballots can be stored in the base of the vote tabulator. Once the technical problem has been fixed, the ballots can be re-inserted into the vote tabulator to be counted accordingly. Some of the most frequently asked questions about optical scan automated vote technology are: Will I have to know how to use the vote tabulators? No. A trained Deputy Returning Officer will assist you with this. Town of Oakville staff and optical scan automated vote technology specialists will also be on hand to assist if necessary. How do I mark the ballot? The ballot is marked by com pleting the arrow to the right of the name of the candidate. Please note that you do not mark the ballot with an X or a check mark as in previous elections. How do I know my vote is secure? Like other years, the Town of Oakville has taken precautions to ensure that electors' votes remain secret. Electors will mark their ballot behind a voting screen and will carry their marked ballot in a cardboard secrecy envelope. If any elector requires assistance in marking his/her ballot, the Deputy Returning Officers and other election officials who are sworn to absolute secrecy, may be called upon for assistance. What happens if I make a mistake and mark the ballot improperly (Le. with an X)? While electors will be instructed to mark the ballot properly, occasionally mistakes may occur. If the elector realized they made a mistake in marking the ballot prior to having the bal lot inserted into the vote tabula tor, the Deputy Returning Officer may cancel the ballot and issue a new ballot to the elector. If the mistake occurred after the ballot was inserted into the tabu lator, the tabulator will not accept the ballot. The elector will be asked to re-examine the marked ballot behind a voting screen to determine the nature of the error. If the elector marked the ballot improperly, the Deputy Returning Officer will issue a new ballot after the incorrectly marked ballot is canceled. What happens if I try to leave the voting place with my issued ballot? This would indicate that the elector has forfeited the opportu nity to vote. Meet th e Team A C O N T I N U I N G SERI ES P R O F I L I N G THE STAFF OF ' C A N A D A ' S BEST C O M M U N I T Y N E W S P A P E R ' Steve Nease As the long-time artistic director o f the Oakville Beaver, Steve is responsible for many aspects o f the over-all look o f the paper, as well as the design for most o f the special features, but is probably best known to readers as the Beaver's resident cartoonist, drawing both editorial cartoons and the popular 'Pud' family comic strip. Steve's work has won dozens of awards for the Oakville Beaver in editorial & advertising design, illustration, and political cartooning. Nease caricatures are popular auction items at charitable functions around town. Married, with 4 sons ranging in age from 3 to 21, he enjoys golf, watching his kids' sports, and coaching soccer and hockey. ' / appreciate the creative freedom in m y jo b, a n d respect the talents o f m y co-workers. Winning awards is great, but knowing m y cartoons are stuck to readers' fridge doors is the greatest com plim ent!' Oakville Beaver CANADAS BEST COMMUNtTY NEWSFAPER 2000 CCNA Better N ew spapers Com petition LaundryMAYTAG MAYTAG nE P w nE . 2 3 Maytag r i\ C C S-Year Extended Warranty on tfa Ntpumt* wosfaf MAYTAG PERFO RM S W ASHER & DRYER Model PAV2300 Models PAV2300 Dishwashers MAYTAG Model PDB2430 MAYTAG Model MDB5100 n MAYTAG 0 . MAYTAG Model MDB6650 Model MDB7100 2525 Hampshire Gate, Oakville Tel ( 9 0 5 ) 8 2 9 - 9 9 0 9 I N N O V A T I O N HOME tag products and a different $hwiping experience, come in and